About Me

Weave the films, Being There and Gandhi into a tapestry of gourmet Mediterranean vegan cuisine, organic wine and a sound track by Nina Simone, place it in a philosophical artist community in Italy near a beautiful body of water, fill it with people who have a passion for chess and an acceptance of psychic abilities, frame it as the book, Illusions by Richard Bach and you have a fair representation of who this woman aspires to be and sometimes is.
Often called a Renaissance woman by others, while inwardly feeling like a Jane of all trades, master of none, jd smith is a writer, performer, Reiki practitioner, empath, intuitive consultant, advocate for equality and occasional chess coach.
She lives on the Southern California coast in a small and relatively peaceful beach community yet, considers herself a New Yorker at heart.
Ms. smith has been married for nearly two decades and is the chief care giver to a senior parent and a toddler child.
Life is good! Si non è vero, è ben trovato -as the Italian's say: even if it's not true, it should be.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Politics 101: Abortion

I support a woman's right to choose, but I do not endorse abortion as a form of birth control. I believe that sex education should be taught in schools and that the curriculum should include both a promotion of abstinence and an education of contraception.

Most Democrats believe in a woman's right to choose. Most Republicans do not. In fact, Sarah Palin, wants to take away abortion as an option under any circumstance including rape and incest. Some Republicans have also made attempts to take away birth control proclaiming contraception to be abortion.* Imagine life without birth control.

Republicans claim that they believe in less government when it comes to public assistance like welfare and yet they believe in more government when it comes to personal freedoms like a woman's right to choose. Very few Republicans want to support the fetus that they fought so hard for once it's actually born.

Therefore, an unwanted fetus that is not permitted to be aborted often becomes an unwanted child, who typically ends up being raised in foster care. While the common perception is that there are long waiting lists to adopt a child, this isn’t the case for ethnic minorities who land in foster care, the vast majority of whom are statistically, unfortunately, far less likely to be adopted than Caucasian babies and children. I have personal experience with the foster care system in America, both as a volunteer who has cared for the children and as a child in that system. I feel that I can say with authority that no child wants to be born unwanted.

When these children go unadopted they often end up on the streets or in prison. The book, Freak Economics, found evidence that crime drops when abortions are legal. In 1990, the number of unwanted children in America was a little over 190,000. By 2007, after too many years of Republican reign, that number rose over half a million to roughly, 700,000.

I once did a study in which I asked 500 women the same question: "Should abortion be legal?" 50% said, "Yes." And 50% said, "No." I then asked them "Have you ever had an abortion?" 80% said, "Yes." So you see, it's just as important to keep abortion legal for those who believe in it as it is for those who don't.